UC Irvine’s Bhatia to discuss spine surgery, robotics on Healthy OC

"Healthy OC" airs on PBS SoCal, formerly known as KOCE-50. The interview will be rerun during the "Real Orange" news program at 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursday, July 21 and at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 22. Please check the PBS SoCal website to find the channel on your cable provider.

In March, Bhatia and colleague Dr. Samuel Bederman used SpineAssist to perform the first robot-assisted spine surgery on the West Coast.

“We expect this technology to improve outcomes, shorten surgical times and enhance healing in our spinal surgery patients,” Bhatia said. “The system allows us to preplan an operation using CT scans to precisely plot the surgery and program the robot to guide screws in exactly the right spot in the patient’s spine.”